"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was a #1 single in 1971 by American singer-actress Cher from the album of the same name, her seventh solo album. It was her first chart-topper as a solo artist in the United States. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA for its sales of over 1 million copies.
Video Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves
Song information
"Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was the first single from Cher's 1971 eponymous album Cher with instrumental backing by L.A session musicians from the Wrecking Crew. The album was subsequently renamed and re-released as Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves after the success of the single. The song was written by songwriter Bob Stone as a story-song called "Gypsys, Tramps and White Trash". Producer Snuff Garrett advised that the title be changed and Stone then changed it to "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves". The album of the same name got very positive reviews.
Released four years after her last top ten hit "You Better Sit Down Kids", this song was a comeback single for Cher--it was her first single in four years to chart higher than #84--not only returning her to the top ten of the charts but also giving her two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1971. It knocked off "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart which had spent the previous month at number one. The single also reached #1 in Canada and #4 in the United Kingdom. It became Cher's best-selling single at that point, selling more than 3 million copies worldwide. As of November 2011, Billboard reported the digital sales of "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" to be 212,000 in the US.
The song describes the life of a girl, the narrator of the song, who was "born in the wagon of a traveling show". Her mother "used to dance for the money they'd throw", while her father would do "whatever he could; preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good". Although the people of the town insulted them with such terms suggested in the title of the song, the men paid them well "every night" for their services.
When a young man is picked up in Mobile, the narrator is 16, while he is 21. Her family took care of him for a while and allowed him to travel with them to Memphis, although her father "would have shot him if he knew what he'd done", implying that he had sex with the narrator. Three months later, the narrator describes herself as a "gal in trouble", and her young man has disappeared.
Echoing the beginning of the song, the narrator's own daughter was "born in the wagon of a traveling show", while the narrator now dances "for the money they throw" and "Grandpa" -- the narrator's own father -- supported them in just the same way as before.
The title of this song has also been shown with the alternative spelling "Gypsies", this being a correct spelling of this word.
Maps Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves
Live performances
Cher performed the song on the following concert tours:
- Do You Believe? tour (performed as part of the Hits Medley)
- Living Proof: The Farewell Tour (performed as part of the Hits Medley)
- Cher at the Colosseum
- Dressed to Kill Tour
- Classic Cher
Music video
The video for "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" was Cher's first music video. The video was a recorded performance of the song on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in 1971. Throughout the video Cher is singing in front of a house wagon and in front of a fire. A second video was made, but it was very similar to the original. In the second video, clips of dancing female gypsies were shown.
Remix version
In 2002, a special remix medley was created by Dan-O-Rama for a video montage that was used in Cher's Living Proof: The Farewell Tour. The medley contains the videos of "All I Really Want to Do", "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady".
Charts and certifications
In popular culture and covers
- British pop singer Cilla Black covered the song on her 1973 album Day by Day with Cilla
- Vicki Lawrence covered it on her 1973 album The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
- Claude François recorded a French translation in 1972, with the title "Voleurs Bohémiens"
- Rock band Inkubus Sukkubus recorded a version for their 2001 album Supernature
- Nervous Gender recorded a parody, "Monsters" on their 1981 album Music from Hell
- the song has featured in two episodes of The Simpsons: in Season 2 episode "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", a character named Richie Sakai sings the song in the karaoke room which the Simpson family visits; in Season 14 episode "A Star Is Born Again", the song is used when a mechanical Cher doll is placed to distract the paparazzi in front of Ned Flanders' house
- Scud Mountain Boys recorded a version for their 1995 album Pine Box
- It was one of several Cher songs included in "The Post-Modern Prometheus", from Season 5 of American science fiction series The X-Files
- In Thugz We Trust, a 2004 album by Thug Lordz and Killa Tay, samples it in the song "Go Hard in the Paint"
- Traditional Irish band Dervish recorded the song for their 2007 album Travelling Show
- French hip hop group IAM sampled it in their 2007 song "Une Autre Brique Dans Le Mur"
- Italian rap group Club Dogo sampled it in their 2008 song "Confessioni di una Banconota"
- In the season 2 episode of Gilmore Girls, "The Roadtrip to Harvard," Lorelai and Rory are staying in a bed and breakfast in New Hampshire and are hiding out in their room while a group of dentists staying there sing "Gypsys, Tramps, & Thieves". When Rory wants to talk about Lorelai calling off her wedding, Lorelai shouts "We are not going to have this fight in a flowery bedroom with dentists singing "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" in the background. It's too David Lynch"
- English punk rock band Anti-Nowhere League covered the song on their 2006 compilation album Pig Iron - The Album
- In November 2014, a mixtape by a 21-year-old Kurt Cobain containing "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" was released online.
References
External links
- Official website of Cher
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
- Lyrics to Vicki Lawrence's 1973 version of this song
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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